I've been playing with live Linux CD's for a while, loaded a few distros, and have now installed v. 5.9 Vector onto an older Dell laptop. It's an Inspiron 2100 notebook, P3/256mb RAM.

I'm very impressed with the speed, look, and layout of Vector. However, I'm having problems getting the wireless card to pick up. The lights on the card are solid on- which, in Windows, meant it was getting a signal. But I have no internet, etc. Knoppix live and a few others managed to pick it up right off the bat, so I'm not sure what's up. The card is the Belkin FD56020 v.2., which I Googled and it's supposed to be one of the known working cards.

Using VASM, from the desktop, I chose "wireless"- it then asks is I want to use ndiswrapper. I'm not sure what to do with that one. If I cancel, it says "no wireless found", if I say "ok", I have no idea what to point it to? Using VEC, I left the hostname as it was and the DNS server as what the router shows (192.168.0.1). It says "setting up hostname and DNS server", then flashes off. Using Netconf, I chose DHCP, and again it says "configuring..."...but still no connection. Tried the other settings as well (static IP)- nothing.

iwconfig shows eth1, 802.11, my correct ESSID, the channel, and even that it has my encryption key (WEP). But there's no link, signal, or noise level (all 0). I assume this means it does see the card?

Using VASM, from the desktop, I chose "wireless"- it then asks is I want to use ndiswrapper. I'm not sure what to do with that one. If I cancel, it says "no wireless found", if I say "ok", I have no idea what to point it to? Using VEC, I left the hostname as it was and the DNS server as what the router shows (192.168.0.1). It says "setting up hostname and DNS server", then flashes off. Using Netconf, I chose DHCP, and again it says "configuring..."...but still no connection. Tried the other settings as well (static IP)- nothing.

I did, however, boot Knoppix Live 5.1.1 and the card works with that. Is there some way to use the drivers from Knoppix in Vector? I searched, while in Knoppix and found a file and a folder called atmel- how can I insert these to work- or am I way off base?

If your card is being loaded by ndiswrapper then you could use that driver for it. The folder location may giveyou a clue.

Knoppix uses a modified kernel. I would guess that the amtel module was compiled. You have the amtel driver however there are reports of it being bad. You could alsoconsider downloading a new kernel and using the config file to build a new kernel.

I don't know too much about wireless, but my card wont work if both, ndiswrapper and native modules are inserted. I would try to remove the ndiswrapper module with modprobe -r ndiswrapper.

did you try this?

This is going to sound dense- but I have no idea how to "try" this? Is this a file I need to edit?

I did run modprobe -r ndiswrapper at a prompt, then tried vasm again to detect the card (as well as VLwifi and Wifi-Radar).

Can you possibly clarify/give a walkthrough? I'd really love to stay w/Vector...

TY so much,

TEdit: I just ran ndiswrapper -l, and under "atmel" it says "invalid driver"...how do I point it to a/the correct one? According to the FCC id, the card is Atmel 76C502A. I also have other "invalids"- install.ini, makefile.kernelv2.6, pcandis5.sys, setup.exe, vl-hot-sda-vol1.desktop (I'm guessing this is from a thumb drive I plugged in once that's no longer there?)...

1. remove the ndiswrapper module by typing "modprobe -r ndiswrapper" as root2. check "lsmod" to see the ndiswrapper module is remove3. run "ifconfig" and "iwconfig" and double check the wireless card is there either as ethx or wlanx4. run "vwifi" as root

or if you want to use ndiswrapper..... (I never use ndiswrapper before, but from what I know this is the step to do it....)